I was scanning through
CNN's website today and found the link to there documentary series
"What It Means To Be Black In America". I read the article and the
supporting links, and it made me think, "What DOES It Mean To Be Black In America?" . . . I know I'm being redundant here, but I thought the phrase was worth repeating.
I complete an exercise when I teach Human Behavior where I have everyone in the room provide a stereotype associated with something they are . . . no white people have no rhythm . . . all black men smoke weed . . . all gay people are permiscuous. . . you get the point. The purpose of this exercise is to speak out loud all of the completely ridiculous labels that are attached to people because of their color, sex, sexual orientation, etc. No matter how much time and social awareness seemingly progress, these stereotypes, silly as they may seem, continue to exist.
I'm anxious to view this documentary to see how CNN represents this topic. However, I would also love to see documentaries that address, for example, "How White People View Black People In Today's Society" . . . OR, "How Black Women View Black Men In Today's Society" OR "How Heterosexual Black People View Homosexual Black People In Today's Society".
Now, none of these documentaries will probably ever be filmed, but they are very real topics that affect everyone's everyday existence. These opinions and attitudes particularly affect how we, as social workers, interact with clients and help form policy. Think about how welfare policies are shaped vs. how public education policies are formed vs. how "war on drugs" policies are formed. The attitudes, opinions, and prejudices of those who are in charge of forming and inacting policies directly affect how they are written and who they benefit . . . or don't benefit.
How can we, as social workers, become more in tune with our own prejudices?
How can we affect change in policy formation before more covert and overt prejudicially based policies are implemented?
